NashvilleNext asks residents for more ideas to shape future

Planning series to focus on jobs, homes Saturday

Oct. 9, 2013

Residents on Saturday will learn about areas of residential and commercial growth in Nashville and share their thoughts about a plan for the city's future during a NashvilleNext event. / File / Submitted

Nashville residents will be asked to play the role of city planners Saturday during an event examining anticipated city growth in the next 25 years.

The “Plan Nashville” event is the latest in the NashvilleNext series, the city’s multi-year effort to plan for the next quarter-century. The final plan, to tackle education, government efficiency, public safety and neighborhood planning, is due in the spring of 2015.

On Saturday, residents are invited to brainstorm where an additional 100,000 new homes and 300,000 new jobs — as officials are projecting — should be located in Nashville in the coming decades. They’ll get a feel for city geography, conservation areas and growth expectations.

“Community members will literally be mapping how they think our community should grow and what should be preserved as we grow,” said Craig Owensby, spokesman for the Metro Planning Department. “Growth is definitely coming. The question is: How do you address it?”

In recent months, NashvilleNext events collected more than 11,000 ideas from 8,000 residents. From those, city planners found 34 subjects that residents considered important for the city’s future.

A follow-up survey ranked the five most important priorities. Other than schools, public safety and government efficiency, residents ranked affordable living, improved transit and more employment options as their top priorities. Walkable and welcoming neighborhoods were also desired.

“The biggest difference between NashvilleNext and previous general plans is the amount of community input,” Owensby said. “We have reached out in many different ways and in some cases to communities that have not been addressed before.”